Apple threw a shortlist of products at the world to introduce the latest Apple M5 chip, most notable of which are the M5 MacBook Pro and new, M5-toting iPad Pro, but is it worth the hype? Well, that depends.
If you’ve been avoiding AI like the plague, then there’s not much to rave about. The standard performance gains are expected, but don’t exactly impress.
However, those who need to use AI on a day-to-day basis will see an incredible performance boost if they upgrade to Apple’s latest chip. Let’s talk about everything Apple is offering with the M5 chipset.
Apple M5 chip key features
Apple is going all in on AI, which isn’t a shocker, but that’s the key focus of the M5 chip. So, it’s less about unique features than it is about raw performance for AI workloads.
In its press release, Apple claims that the M5’s 16-core Neural Engine will make AI tasks much faster. Examples provided were transforming 2D photos into spatial scenes in the Photos app and generating a Persona.
This also enhances Apple Intelligence overall, so AI tools like Image Playground and Apple’s Foundation Models will get a performance boost.
But what does that look like? Well, let’s compare to the Apple M4.
Apple M5 chip vs. M4 chip
Apple makes quite a few claims in its press release, most notably that the M5 chip delivers 300% more GPU performance for AI workloads compared to the M4 chip. That’s quadruple the performance, which is great for folks that are diving hard into AI (Apple clearly is).
The M5 also features a 30% increase in unified memory bandwidth, reaching 153GB per second, which means that devices with the M5 chip can run larger AI models without any outside help.
However, the more average user would benefit from its overall CPU and GPU performance increase. As far as general computing power, you’ll see a 15% improvement in performance with the M5 versus the M4. With the GPU, there’s a 30% boost overall and a 45% increase with ray tracing.
The practical application of the CPU performance may not be immediately visible, but the GPU performance will surely be noticeable, especially if you’re gaming or transcoding videos.
For those who can afford the new Apple Vision Pro (2025) (it’s still $3,499), the M5 chip will be rendering 10% more pixels with the micro-OLED displays, which have also increased their refresh rate to 120Hz.
Apple M5 chip supported devices
You can find the new Apple M5 chip in four products: the MacBook Pro 14, iPad Pro 11, iPad Pro 13, and Apple Vision Pro (the most expensive way to test it out). If you’re looking for the cheapest way to play around with the M5 chip, your best bet is the iPad Pro 11, which starts at $999.
Most devices feature the 10-core CPU/GPU model of the Apple M5 chip. However, the iPad Pro models with 256GB or 512GB of storage drop down slightly to a 9-core CPU with a 10-core GPU. If you’re crunching numbers, you might notice a difference, but the average user may not be able to tell.
What’s next?
The Apple M5 chip may have splashed in a solo debut, but that means we’ll see the M5 Pro and M5 Max launch sooner than later. We’ll likely see it first in the MacBook Pro 16, and then in Mac mini or Mac Studio. However, I’m hoping we’ll see bigger changes with the M5 Pro and M5 Max beyond AI.
As far as the M5 chip itself goes, it’s a good bet that it’ll show up in the MacBook Air and even the iMac. I’m most excited about the MacBook Air M5 debut, especially if Apple keeps it the same price. While not necessarily cheap, it’s relatively affordable, and the latest MacBook Air is easily one of the best laptops out there.
